I’m late writing about the proposed flag-burning amendment. This is mostly because I cannot believe that an amendment was re-introduced. I thought that we had already dealt with this issue last decade! Burning the flag is a despicable act, but it is also constitutionally-protected free speech. Banning this act would be restricting our First Amendment rights. This amendment would destroy one of the ideals that the flag stands for in an effort to protect the flag. Which just doesn’t make sense.
Well, it didn’t take long to to find a good reason to vote for Bill Ritter for Governor of Colorado in ‘06: He has an extremely balanced and educated view of reproductive rights:
However, voters do have a right to know where I stand on this issue. I am pro-life as a matter of personal faith. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the decision of whether or not to legalize abortions reverts to the states, and if the Colorado Legislature passes a bill banning abortion, I will sign the bill only if it provides protections for women who are victims of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother. However, should the Colorado Legislature pass a complete ban without these protections, I would veto that bill. That said, Roe V. Wade is the law of the land and abortions are legal. As Governor I will act in the same way I did as DA. I will respect the law as it stands, and I will not act to undermine the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion. For example, as Denver DA, I prosecuted those who caused damage and created disruption at family services clinics.
I do believe that there is much to be done in our society, and in our state, to make abortions rare. In the area of teen pregnancy prevention, greater efforts can be made in educating our youth. We can examine the adoption policies of this state and look for ways to support girls and women who find themselves confronting an unplanned pregnancy.
Actually, Mr. Ritter provides a few answers in this interview with ColoradoPols that make me think that he’d be a good choice for governor. Definitely give this interview a read.
Well, I’ll be damned. It looks like someone has finally realized that there might be something fishy about Halliburton’s no-bid contract in Iraq.
Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress berated the Pentagon for withholding information about Halliburton’s disputed billing under a $2.5 billion contract for Iraqi oil site repairs and fuel imports.
Saying the Pentagon is acting as if ‘it has something to hide,’ Representative Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, said at a hearing Tuesday that he would support issuing a subpoena to the Pentagon next week if it did not provide long-requested documents relating to the contract, which was awarded to Halliburton in early 2003 without competition.
As expected, Democratic congressman are not happy about the contact, and want to find out what happened to all that money. But the interesting thing about this article is it points to some pissed off Republicans, too. A bipartisan investigation should have no problem getting some answers. And those answers are not going to be good for some people in the White House *cough*Cheney*cough*
Mark this in the 75% good, 25% bad column: the House of Representatives voted to limit parts of the Patriot Act.
In a slap at President Bush, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips.
Despite a veto threat from President Bush, lawmakers voted 238-187 to block the part of the antiterrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.
The vote reversed a narrow loss last year by lawmakers complaining about threats to privacy rights. They narrowed the proposal this year to permit the government to continue to seek out records of internet use at libraries.
Unfortunately, this is not all good news. The provision to allow access to internet use records is still very troubling. Add this to some libraries testing biometrics-controlled access to public-use computers (courtesy of Shmoo), and there is still an awful lot of privacy being invaded here.
But still, this is a surprising step in the right direction. The PATRIOT Act was a terrifying law which trampled all over personal liberties. It is good to see actual bipartisan efforts to restore some of those personal liberties.
A House subcomittee decided to eliminate funding for Public Broadcasting, apparently deciding that the money would be better spent on, say, Haliburton. “The goal is to kill all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting within two years.
“A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government’s financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite such popular children’s educational programs as ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Reading Rainbow,’ ‘Arthur’ and ‘Postcards From Buster.’”
In a speech that was theoretically supposed to bolster support for a conceivable presidential candidacy, Tom Tancredo revealed that he is out of his friggin’ mind! I must quote this, ‘cuz otherwise, no one would believe it: “‘And they need to be found before it is too late. They’re coming here to kill you, and you, and me, and my grandchildren,’ he said, pointing at people in the audience. ‘It’s just despicable.’”
It is despicable, Tom. Your attitude about immigrants. Your fear of non-Americans. Your latent racism.
Despicable.
Apparently, Xcel Energy hates trees! And their hatred is so obvious that a judge has put up a temporary injunction to keep them from ripping out some forest land. “Xcel had argued that clear-cutting was necessary to prevent trees from touching the lines, which could start fires or cause a blackout.
“El Paso County District Judge G. David Miller ruled that other methods, such as pruning, could also ensure safety.”
Well, it’s taken friggin’ forever, but the Downing Street memo is finally getting some press her in America. “The Sunday Times said the memo is the minutes of a meeting that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had with some of his top intelligence and foreign policy aides on July 23, 2002, at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence. The story said the memo indicates that Blair was told by the head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence service that in 2002, the Bush administration was selectively choosing evidence that supported its case for going to war and ignoring anything to the contrary. The war began in March 2003.
“‘Intelligence and facts were being fixed’ by the Bush administration ‘around’ a policy that saw military action ‘as inevitable,’ the newspaper quoted from the memo.”
Hopefully, this is the start of an avalanche of coverage.
I think that Howard Dean’s comments about the Republican party were pretty much spot-on. I don’t understand why other Democrats are distancing themselves from him, nor why some Democrats are actively criticizing Dean for the comments he made. These comments are exactly what the Democratic party needs. Right now, the Dems look like they are just whipping boys for the Republicans. The Dems need to show that they have a spine, and that they are willing to stand up and fight.
Dean’s comments?
Dean told a forum of journalists and minority leaders Monday that Republicans are “not very friendly to different kinds of people, they are a pretty monolithic party … it’s pretty much a white, Christian party.”
Challenged on that during the NBC interview, Dean said “unfortunately, by and large it is. And they have the agenda of the conservative Christians.”
“This is a diversion from the issues that really matter: Social Security, and adequate job opportunity, strong public schools, a strong defense,” Dean said.
After the following rant on Wil Wheaton’s blog WWDN, how could I not love him:
“Mostly, it’s when I want to rage about what a colossal fucking liar George W. Bush is, what a disgrace he is to my country, and how the mainstream corporate media have completely failed to hold him and his administration accountable for countless lies. I’m a passionate person, and I’m passionate about politics. I’m going to write about it, and I’m not going to pull any punches. It won’t be my primary focus, and I will never be as great a political blog as The Moderate Voice, Josh Marshall or Atrios, but I’ve turned away from political posts for too long. If the world were a bar, America would currently be the angry drunk waving around a loaded gun. Yeah, the other people in the bar may be afraid of him, but they sure as hell don’t respect him. And as soon as he drops that gun, he’s going to get his ass handed to him. I’d rather my country be respected than feared, and I’m going to do whatever I can, however small, to make that happen.”
Bravo, Wil. And welcome to the world of political blogging. We need more high-profile people writing about what’s wrong with our country. Fire away!
